Central American U-17: Honduras, Costa Rica open with wins
Action from the Central American under-17 qualifier between host Costa Rica (white jersey) and Belize in Pavas, San Jose, Costa Rica.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – The Central American qualifying tournament for the 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship kicked off Thursday at the Estadio Ernesto Rohrmoser with Honduras and host Costa Rica gaining the early advantage.
In the opener, Honduras earned a 2-0 win over El Salvador on second-half goals by Carlos Mejia (52’ pen) and Jose Canaca (90’+4).
Costa Rica completed the twin bill by netting three second-half goals, including a pair from Mario Mora, to defeat Belize, 4-0.
Christian Muñoz opened the scoring in the seventh minute, when he found the back of the net off a right-sided feed from Josue Abarca, who did well to elude two Belizean defenders.
Jeurgen Sequeira doubled the lead in the 46th minute and Mario Mora made it 3-0 three minutes later with the first of his two goals, heading home Josue Alfaro’s cross from the left.
With a minute remaining in normal time, Jecxy Jarquin provided the service that allowed Mora to punctuate the scoreline.
The competition, which will be played through November 26, resumes Saturday with Honduras-Belize and Costa Rica-Nicaragua encounters.
The top three finishers earn berths to the CONCACAF event that is slated to be contested in Panama from April 21-May 7, 2017. In addition to the host, the other eight participating teams are Canada, Cuba, Curacao, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Suriname and the United States.
2016 CENTRAL AMERICAN UNDER-17 QUALIFYING
Estadio Ernesto Rohrmoser -- San Jose, Costa Rica
November 17-26, 2016
November 17, 2016
El Salvador 0, Honduras 2
Carlos Mejia 52’ pen; Jose Canaca 90’+4
Costa Rica 4, Belize 0
Christian Muñoz 7’; Jeurgen Sequeira 46’; Mario Mora 49’, 89’
Costa Rica 1-1-0-0-4-0-3
Honduras 1-1-0-0-2-0-3
Nicaragua 0-0-0-0-0-0-0
El Salvador 1-0-0-1-0-2-0
Belize 1-0-0-1-0-4-0
November 19, 2016
Honduras v Belize
Costa Rica v Nicaragua
November 21, 2016
Belize v El Salvador
Nicaragua v Honduras
November 24, 2016
Belize v Nicaragua
Costa Rica v El Salvador
November 26, 2016
El Salvador v Nicaragua
Costa Rica v Honduras